Applied English

Technical Writing

Fall Semester 2021/2022

The Hashemite University
The Language Center
 Introduction

This is a suggested textbook for “ The Applied English Course”. Here you will
find some notes, tips, activities, extra material, evaluation sheets and assignments.

The Guide is based on The Language Center textbook “Technical Communication: Process
and Product, 2009, by Sharon J. Gerson and Steven M. Gerson, 6th ed., New Jersey: Pearson,
Prentice Hall. However, not all material is cover. I found through my workplace experience that
some technical areas have more focus than others, so here comes the summary:

Chapter One: Why Teach Technical Writing

What is technical writing?

Chapter Two: Five Traits of Technical Writing

✓ Clarity
✓ Conciseness
✓ Accessibility
✓ Audience Recognition
✓ Accuracy
✓ Five Trait Rubric
✓ End of Chapter Activities

Chapter Three: Applications of Technical Writing

✓ Letters
✓ Memos
✓ E-Mail
✓ Reports
✓ The Job Search
✓ Instructions
✓ Brochures

Chapter Four: Technical Writing Assignments (will be provided by your lecturer)

✓ Sales Letters
✓ Letters of Inquiry
✓ Memos
✓ E-Mail
✓ Reports
✓ The Job Search
✓ Grouped Assignments
✓ Conclusion

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 Technical Writing: Chapter One
A Definition

Technical writing is
communication written for What is
and about business and
industry, focusing on Technical Writing?
products and services:
how to manufacture them,
market them, manage
them, deliver them, and
use them.

Technical writing is
written:
* In the work
environment (in
the office, from
8:00 to 5:00, not
counting
overtime). Of course, there are exceptions…
*For supervisors, Why is technical writing so important?
colleagues,
subordinates,
vendors, and Why would I want to teach technical writing?
customers. Don’t I have enough to teach now without adding one more
assignment or series of assignments to my curriculum?
Technical writing, which What’s the point?
must be understood easily
and quickly, includes: Technical writing is not literature; it’s neither prose which recounts
• memos and e-mails the fictional tales of characters nor poetry which expresses deeply felt,
• Letters universal emotions through similes and metaphors.
• Reports Technical writing is neither an expressive essay narrating an occurrence
• Instructions nor an expository essay analyzing a topic.
• brochures and Technical writing is not journalism, written to report the news.
newsletters
Technical writing does not focus on poetic images, describe personal
• the job search experiences, or report who won the basketball game.
• web pages
• fliers Instead, technical writing is:
—an instructional manual for repairing machinery
• PowerPoint
—a memo listing meeting agendas
presentations —a letter from a vendor to a client
• graphics —a recommendation report proposing a new computer system

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 Of course there are exceptions …

Newsletters, sales letters, websites, and fliers might include promotional

information. Such sales details could depend on expressive words—
maybe even fictional characters. However, generally speaking, most
technical writing is denotative versus connotative.

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 People read literature for pleasure, essays for enlightenment,
and journalism for news. People read technical writing to
accomplish a job. Technical writing is written to a different audience
for a different purpose than essays. The reader of technical writing
does not have time, nor necessarily the interest in the subject
matter.

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COMMUNICATION:-

Definition: “Communication is the process by which information is transmitted between

individuals and organization, so that an understanding response results”. OR “Communication is
the process which involves transmission and accurate replication of ideas, ensured by feedback
for the purpose of eliciting action which will accomplish organizational goals”.

IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION FOR AN INDIVIDUAL

(1) Helps in getting a desired job:-

Getting a desired job is not an easy task. It requires a person to be excellent, especially in
terms of communication abilities. Communication abilities can be classified into five categories
that is reading, writing, speaking, listening and observing. If a candidate is a good reader of not
only text books and reference books but also of newspapers and magazines, this would help him
developing confidence level at the time of interview. Writing skills are necessary for preparing
an appropriate Biodata and covering letter, so that a better initial impression could be created. No
doubt, conversational skill right at the time of interview is equally countable towards success of
the candidate. Listening abilities on the other could prove to be fruitful especially when the
interviewer is making a comment or asking a question. In short we can say that the presence of
above mentioned five communication skills could give a better chance of being selected during
an interview.

(2) Help in maintaining social relationships:-

We as human beings live in a cobweb of relationships rather social relationship. These
social relations compel us to act simultaneously in the capacity of father, child, husband, uncle,
neighbor, cousin, teacher, and nephew and so on. All these relationships especially near one’s
could be maintained properly if we can communicate well to all these relations, that we are here
to take care of them and our services are always there to help them in case of any needs.

(3) Helps in getting on the job promotion:-

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 Perhaps finding a job would not be a big deal in case of if the candidate is well connected
and belongs to a well off family. But promotion on the job requires some extra skills on the part
of the candidate. Amongst those skills, communication abilities rank on the top. If a person can
speak well during interactive and presentation sessions, can reports properly, he will
automatically be in the eyes of the management and whenever a chance for promotion comes, he
will be on the top of the list.

(4) Helps in solving other’s problems:-

It is commonly observed that around us there are so many people whom we like to meet
their company is a source of enrichment for us. When we are with them we feel secured. The
only reason for such types of feelings is that such type of people are not only good listeners but
they also know it well that whenever they would speak, it would only be for the sake of
encouraging, not discouraging others, only for solving other’s problems and not for creating
problems for others. Such people are no doubt excellent communicators.

Differentiate between formal and informal language:

Formal Language Informal Language:

1. It is the language spoken in office, business It is the language spoken at home or with
and other formal places. friends.

2. Proper and standard words are used Improper words and slangs are used.

3. It consists of specific purpose words like It has all purpose words like “boss” that
manager, supervisor, owner, employer etc. stands for various personalities.

4. It is used comparatively less than informal It is used in daily life

language.

5. It is used when the speaker is relaxed. It is used when speaker is in a hurry

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 Explain the process of communication. OR “Communication is a two way process of
exchanging ideas or information between two human beings”. Explain this statement with the
help of a diagram.

Communication simply means exchange of ideas & information between two persons. A
person sends a message to another person and gets the response from the receiver on the
message. This whole phenomenon can be explained as under.

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Discuss five elements (Factors) of the process of communication;
Communication is the exchange of ideas between two minds. This process of exchanging
idea is based on following five factors.
1. Sender:
Sender is the person who initiates the process of communication. He generates an idea in
his mind regarding production invention, innovation, request, order, enquiry etc. So, he is the
first factor of communication process and his function is to generate an idea. Therefore, it is
necessary that the idea should be clear, and convertible into message. For this purpose, the
sender needs to apply their knowledge and imaginative power.
2. Message:
The idea in the mind of sender is transformed into words that is called message. The
sender decides on the length, style, organization and tone of the message. The message may be
presented in many ways, depending on the subject, purpose, audience, personal style, mood and
cultural background.
3. Media:
The media of transmission of message are electronic media as T.V., radio, computer and
print media as newspapers, letter, magazine etc. media play a very important role in helping the
receiver’s understand the message. A wrongly chosen medium can interrupt the process of
communication, Selection of medium depends upon message, audience, urgency and situation.
4. Receiver:
Receiver is the person who gets the message from the sender, decodes it, understands it
and interprets it.
5. Feed Back:
Having understood the message, the receiver responds to the sender in yes or no or asks
further questions. This process is called feedback.
Explain in detail verbal and non-verbal communication?

VERBAL COMMUNICATION: Verbal communication means such a communication that

takes place by means of a language or words”. It includes the following contents.
a. Oral communication (Speaking & listening)
b. Written communication (writing & reading)
1. Speaking:

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 In order to send message in business, speaking plays a vital role. Giving instruction,
conducting interviews, attending meetings, sending orders through telephone calls are very
common in today’s business.
2. Writing:
It is used when a complex message is sent. Placing order through letters,
informing employees through circulars, sending reports and memos, filling different
government forms, keeping records in writing are some examples of this aspect of verbal
communication.
3. Listening:
People in business spend more time in obtaining information then transmitting it.
Listening is the most important way to receive information: information regarding order
of employers, instruction, rules and regulation, customer trend etc, are obtained through
listening. But in listening, people generally forget 75% of the message after few days.
4. Reading:
Reading reports, memos, policies, circulars, and different business statements are
essential for an organization: Reading involves understanding and interpreting the
material.
NON VERBAL COMMUNICATION: It means communication without the use of language or
words. It includes appearance, body language, silence, etc. Its explanation is as follows.

1. Facial Expressions:
Face and eyes are helpful means of nonverbal communication. They reveal hidden
emotions such as anger, confusion, enthusiasm, fear, joy etc.
2. Gestures, postures & movement:-
Postures means the language primarily composed of hand and fingers. Communication of
deaf people and signal given by traffic constable are the example of posture. Gestures and body
movement also indicate many things. Shaking hand with firmness indicates a warm relationship,
moving back and forth reveals nervousness.

Categories of non-verbal communication and Their Importance in the communication

Process:

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NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION:
Non-verbal messages are sometimes more clear, accurate and effective as compared to
verbal communication, because they are internationally used and understood. Non-verbal
communication may be divided into the following three categories:
1. Appearance
2. Body Language
3. Silence, Time and Sounds

1. APPEARANCE:
Appearance affects the quality of written and spoken messages as follows:
i. Written Messages:
The envelope’s overall appearance size, colour, weight, postage and the letter’s
overall appearance length stationary, enclosures, layout, etc. may convey significant
information and impressions.
ii. Spoken Messages:
Personal appearance of the speaker-clothing, jewelry, hair-style, neatness, etc.
may tell about the age, sex occupation, nationality, social, economic and job status.
Similarly, appearance of the surroundings room-size, location, furnishings, lighting, etc.
may tell a lot about the message.

2. BODY LANGUAGE:
Facial expressions, gestures, posture, smell, touch, voice etc are included in body language.

IMPORTANCE OF NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION:

1. Reliability:-
Non-verbal communication is more reliable then verbal communication. Words can be
controlled more easily but it’s difficult to hide facial expressions like sadness, gladness, joy etc,
so non-verbal communication is regarded as a more reliable means for transmitting message.
2. Support to verbal communication:-
Body language and appearance support the verbal communication. A wave of hand, smile
etc might be very useful to explain and understand a particular point of view.

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3. Quickness:-
A denial or acceptance expressed by moving head saves lot of time. So, it is important in
this respect that non-verbal communication transmits the message quickly.

FUNCTION OF NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION:

There are following six functions of it.
(1) To provide information either consciously or unconsciously.
(2) To regulate the flow of conversation.
(3) To express emotion
(4) To qualify, complement, contradict or expand verbal message.
(5) To control or influence others.
(6) To facilitates specific tasks, such as teaching a person.

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This chapter provides specific criteria to give students before asking
them to write technical documents. The five traits of technical writing
are:
• Clarity
• Conciseness
• Accessible document design
• Audience recognition
• Accuracy

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Clarity in technical writing is mandatory

The most important criteria for effective technical writing is clarity. If the audience
responds to a memo, letter, report, or manual with, “Huh?” what has the writer
accomplished? If the correspondence is not clearly understood, the reader will either call
the writer for further clarification, or just ignore the information. In either case, the writer’s
time is wasted; the reader’s time is wasted; the message is lost.

Clarity, however, is not just a time concern. Think of it from this perspective: your
company has written an installation manual for a product. The manual, unfortunately, is
not clear. When the reader fails to understand the content, three negatives can occur:

• BAD—The equipment is damaged. This requires the owner to ship the equipment
back. The company will replace the equipment, costs accrue, and public relations
have been frayed.
• WORSE—The owner is hurt, leading to pain, anxiety, doctor’s bills, and bad public
relations.

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 • EVEN WORSE—The company is sued. The company loses money, the writer of the
manual loses a job, and public relations are severed.

Clarity achieved through reporter’s questions.

Example

Nothing is clear in this memo, and

the reasons are obvious. The
manager has failed to answer
Reporter’s Questions:
who, what,
when, where,
why, how.

Reporter’s questions check list

1. Who is the audience? Who will know what? Will the audience know a great deal
(High Tech)? Will the audience know a little about the topic (Low Tech)? Will the
audience know nothing about the topic (Lay)?
2. What do you plan to do? What do you want the audience to do? What do you want
to know?
3. When the job should be completed? What’s the turnaround time? What’s the
timetable? What’s the desired schedule? When do you need an answer?
4. Where will the work take place?
5. Why is the task being undertaken (the rationale, motivation, goal)? Why is the
desired date important?
6. How should the task be performed? What’s the preferred procedure?
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 Using the reporter’s questions checklist as a prewriting tool, the previous memo can be
revised to greater clarity. Here is an example of a revised memo.

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 Clarity achieved through specificity

When a student answers reporter’s questions, he or she has filled a page

with words. But all words are not equal. Words like some, several, many, few,
frequently, often, substantial, or recently will take up space on the page and
convey an impression. These connotative words will not mean the same thing
to everyone.

If a memo sent to six employees states that the company has lost a
substantial amount of business, will all employees acquire the same
knowledge? One might assume that a substantial loss equals $1,000; another
might assume that a substantial loss equals twelve clients. In each case, the
employees are guessing, and that is not the goal of successful technical
writing.

(The previous memo using the phrase very detailed would be more
clear if the writer had said he needed an eight hour presentation. Everyone
receiving the memo then would know exactly how much time they needed to
set aside to attend the meeting.)

In contrast to mystery stories which seek to create suspense, technical

writing must be clear.

The ultimate goal of effective technical writing is to say the same thing to
multiple readers!
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Read the following paragraph taken from an actual business correspondence:

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No one curls up in bed at night and for pleasure reads manuals
about installing computer printers.

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Technical writing must fit in the box

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You can shorten a sentence by avoiding:

- Redundancy

- Prepositional phrases

- Passive Voice.

(1)

“Avoiding Redundancy”

(2)

“Avoiding Prepositional Phrases”

(3)
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“Avoiding Passive Voice”

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 The paragraph on the bottom of the previous page consists of 84 words
and ten sentences. The average number of words per sentence is only 8.4.
Because the sentences are not too long, the writing is concise. Next, the text is
clear, due to specificity of detail. However, despite the clarity and conciseness,
this writing fails. Why? Essentially, this paragraph is unintelligible.
The page layout makes it nearly impos-
sible for the reader to understand the text.

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 Who is writing to whom?
What does the audience Know, need to know, and want to
know?

***
When your audience fails to understand the text, you have
failed to communicate!

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Writing successfully to these three types of audience requires different
techniques

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Proofreading
A successful technical writer assures that the document is well-
proofread. This can be achieved through:

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Tip No. (1)

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Types of Letters

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Components of a good “Resume”

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 If your résumé finds appeal, you would probably have a chance for an
interview, so get ready and follow the interviewing common sense:

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Interview
Explain the types of patterned interview.
In a patterned interview the interviewer controls the direction of conversation. It is of following
two kinds:
1. Direct Interview: In the direct interview the interviewer keeps very close control at all times
by directing limited and specific question. He / She asks close ended question and does not let
the interviewee speak freely.

2. Indirect Interview: In the indirect interview the interviewer makes little or no attempt to
direct the applicant conversation.

What are the different purpose/objectives for which interview is carried?

Interties are face-to-face communication. It is a form of interpersonal Communication.
Interviews are not just for job procurement. The purpose for which interviews are carried may be
as follows:

1. CONUSELLING: taken by a supervisor, officer, or counselor who may ask questions

relating to work or problem from the employee. In other cases interviews may be
conducted by a doctor/psychiatrist of patients or person facing psychological problems.
2. EVALUATING: taken by supervisor, manager to review and evaluate the performance
of the employee(s).
3. DISCIPLINING: taken by an officer, manager if the behavior of the employee(s)
require action to maintain discipline.
4. COMPLAINING: taken by an officer, manager if the employee(s) wish to lodge
complaint for certain dissatisfaction or action required.
5. TERMINATING: taken by an officer/manager to inform employee(s) about the
termination from job.

Other objectives
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There are following objectives of patterned interviews.
1. The resume provides a lot of information about the candidate but not all the information so
this interview is conducted to evaluate job qualification that the resume can’t provide.
2. Another purpose is to determine the real communication ability of the interview.
3. This interview also helps the interviewer provide essential facts about the job and company.
4. It also instills a feeling of material understanding and confidence in the applicant, who accepts
the job.
5. It promotes good will towards the company, whether the applicant accept the job or not. It is
important to give the right impression to the candidate who is disappointed by a turndown.

Symbols of positive and negative attitude of an interview:

An interview may have a negative or positive attitude during the time of interview. The
summary of these negative or positive symbols is as below:

A. Direct Interview:
Positive Negative

Early arrival Late arrival

Alert, responsible attitude Intensive, dull attitude

Emphatic attitude Withdrawn attitude

Relaxed manner Tension, body tremor

Smiles Frowns

Clear voice Choked Voice

Diligent, smart and responsible Lack of concentration, dull, weak

Strong and determined attitude Lack of determination

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B. Verbal Behavior:
Positive Negative

Sticking to the main point Changing the subject

Relevant responses Irrelevant responses

Well organized presentation Disorganized presentation

Appropriate use of Humor Uncalled levity

Spontaneous replies Long pause before replying

Speaking well of people Criticism of others

Eye contacting confident Looking sideways cresting ayes downward

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References:
Technical Communication: Process and Product, 2009, by Sharon J. Gerson and Steven M.
Gerson, 6th ed., New Jersey: Pearson, Prentice Hall

Technical Communication, by Lannon, J. and Laura Gurak. Boston: Longman, 2011.

Technical Communication (ninth ed.), Mike Markel. Bedford/St. Martin’s: 2010.

The End

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